All Blacks will be a physical 'step up' from the Lions, Springboks warned

Former All Blacks scrumhalf Justin Marshall believes the Springboks will face a step up in competition when they play their old rivals in the Rugby Championship.

The Springboks will go straight into this season’s Rugby Championship next weekend when they face Argentina in a two-Test series in Port Elizabeth, but their visit to Dunedin is where Marshall predicts the World Champions will really be tested.

Marshall faced the Lions in 2005 in New Zealand, when Clive Woodward’s campaign ran aground in spectacular fashion. That Lions vintage were no match for the All Blacks and the now infamous ‘Black Wash’ will go down as one of the most unsuccessful tours in Lions history.

Marshall now believes that current All Blacks, despite their patchy form over the last two seasons, will still pose a step up from Warren Gatland’s Lions, not least in physicality.

“The Boks are the world champions and the number one team in the world and I know it hasn’t sat well with the All Blacks that their big rivals have been able to sit on that spot without being challenged,” wrote Marshall in column for TheXV.rugby. “The Boks didn’t play a test last year.

“Regardless of the result in the series against the Lions, which I suspect they’ll win, they won’t be able come here with complacency because the first test against the All Blacks in Dunedin will be brutal.

“They’ll think that Lions series was hard, but respectfully, I think there will be step up under the roof in Dunedin and it gives me goosebumps thinking about it.